


Different in an Unconventional Way

by coffeeandstars



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Altean Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, a teeny tiny bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:21:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25436854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeandstars/pseuds/coffeeandstars
Summary: As long as she had been alive, Katie had always known that she was different. Different from her family, and different from the rest of the planet.And not different in the quirky, conventional way (although, that she was as well). No, Katie Holt was different in quite an unconventional way.You see, Katie Holt wasn’t Katie Holt at all. No, she was perhaps the last of a nearly extinct alien race. An alien race known as the Alteans.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Allura & Pidge | Katie Holt
Comments: 5
Kudos: 41





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I, unfortunately, do not own Voltron or any of these characters. All rights to whoever owns them. Also, the characters here are probably OOC, but I dunno.

As long as she had been alive, Katie had always known that she was different. Different from her family, and different from the rest of the planet.

And not different in the quirky, conventional way (although, that she was as well). No, Katie Holt was different in quite an unconventional way. 

Katie Holt wasn’t Katie Holt at all, you see. No, she was perhaps the last of a nearly extinct alien race. An alien race known as the Alteans. 

Her name wasn’t even really Katie, it was Kolle, and she was the only surviving child of the Head Altean Royal Scientist. She had come to earth in a pod and the Holts had been a godsend. They had taken her in, no questions asked. 

They didn’t seem to mind that she had elf ears, or that she had white hair and green markings under her eyes. The Holts hadn’t minded that she would sometimes lapse into a language that none of them would understand or that she would sometimes grieve for her lost family. 

She had, in time, learned to use her Altean shifting to make herself appear human, donning brown hair instead of white and green eyes instead of their natural red. She also learned to hide her eye markings and ears, and she traded the name ‘Kolle’ for ‘Katie’. She spent hours hidden in her room, practicing writing in english instead of in altean. It hurt her to dispose of her identity, but her family - both past and present - wanted her to remain safe. 

Eventually, she began to see the Holts as a new family. Colleen Holt insisted that Katie call her ‘mom’ and Samuel Holt ‘dad’. Matt was eager to be christened an older brother even though Katie was technically older than him by a decade or two (“You’re like eight if we compare it to your average lifespan instead of ours.” Matt had remarked. “I’m almost fourteen. Therefore, I am the older brother.”)

Even with her alien characteristics hidden, Katie was still very different from human children. For one, she had an advanced knowledge of technology due to her upbringing as the royal scientist’s daughter. Another was her inhuman strength and speed, which she had to learn to tamp down, along with her Altean healing magic (Matt had flipped out when he discovered her reviving the family plant. It was one of the more hilarious aspects of living with humans). 

When she went to school, she found out quite quickly that Earth’s learning was nothing like Altea’s. It was much less… violent. 

Earthling children were also different from Altean children in attitude. On Altea, Katie had been considered a genius - a prodigy in the ways of technology, bio-science, engineering, and botany. On earth, her skills and talents were frowned upon by her peers, who labeled her a ‘nerd’ and used it as an excuse to avoid and mock her. 

When she had spoken to Matt about it, he had told her not to mind what they said - that the children were only jealous and used her to mask their own insecurities. He told her that they would stop eventually, and even if they didn’t, her taxes would eventually be paying for their jail cells. 

Katie’s newfound family made the pain of losing her planet to a bloodthirsty war-species bearable. Of course, there were days when Katie grieved and spent hours holed up in her room sobbing for her biological parents and siblings who had not been as fortunate as she. During those days, Matt would build them a pillow and blanket fort and hold her tight while she cried, and Colleen would bring them mugs of hot chocolate and kiss her on the forehead, whispering soft reassurances. 

And then Matt and their father had gone to Kerburos. Katie had been so very happy for her brother and adoptive father, finding joy in what excited them. She missed them, yes, but it was a good kind of sorrow, because she knew that they were living out their dreams. One day, Katie hoped to accompany them back to space and show them where her home had been. 

Until they got news of the crash. A piloting error, according to the news. Everyone was dead, said the government. 

But Katie knew that they weren’t all dead - she knew who was piloting, and there was no way that Takashi Shirogane would have erred so badly as to take the lives of himself and his crewmates.

So she investigated, and found that she was correct in her mistrust of the government. They were liars who were too cowardly to accept that there was other sentient life other than earth. 

So she left her adoptive mother a note of apology and changed her identity again, this time to Pidge Gunderson, an above-average, male student at the Galaxy Garrison. 

She had already lost one family, and she would do everything in her power not to lose a second. 

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

“You come up here to rock out?”

PIdge screamed as her headphones were unexpectedly removed from her head. “Oh, Lance, Hunk.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “No, um, just looking at the stars.”

Lance shrugged, but then a thought seemed to hit him. “"Hey where'd you get this stuff?” he asked. “It doesn't look like Garrison tech.”

PIdge felt a stab of pride. “I built it.” she announced, trying not to let that pride seep into her voice. 

“You built all this?” Hunks voice was laced with awe. He moved to try and touch it, and Pidge slapped his hand away.

“Stop it!” she snapped before turning to Lance. “With this, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”

“That right?” Lance had a sly look on his face. “All the way to _Kurberos_?”

Pidge hunched in on herself and refused to meet either Hunk’s or Lance’s eyes.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up.” he continued, “What’s your deal?” 

Pidge opened her mouth, but had nothing to say. She was saved from answering immediately, however, by Hunk reaching over to try touching her equipment again. “STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!” She roared, snapping her head around to glare at Hunk, who had shot back as soon as she had opened her mouth. 

“... So I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter."

Lance looked at her sceptically, while Hunk started freaking out.

“Okay, so you’re insane. Got it.”

Pidge turned her glare on Lance. “I’m serious!” she snapped. “they keep repeating one word; ‘Voltron’ - And tonight they are going crazier than I have _ever_ heard it.”

Lance still looked sceptical, but worry was starting to cloud his features as well. “..How crazy?”

Before Pidge could answer him, the Garrison alarms started to blare, followed by Iverson’s monotone voice over the speakers. "Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

And that’s when they saw the pod falling from the sky. Somehow, Pidge already knew who it contained. Unfortunately, she also recognized the technology.

“Galra.” was the terrified whisper that escaped Pidge’s lips.

Lance turned to her, confused. “What?”

Pidge didn’t answer, too focused on the ship that was falling from the sky. Lance snatched her binoculars to get a closer look.

“WOAH!” He cried. “That is _not_ one of ours!”

“No.” Pidge agreed. “It’s one of _theirs._ ”

Hunk was hyperventilating. “So there really _are_ aliens out there?!”

Both Pidge and Lance ignored him. 

“We’ve gotta go see that ship.” Pidge stated.

Lance and Pidge had taken about five steps before realizing that Hunk was still standing frozen.

“Come _on,_ Hunk!” Lance grabbed his arm and gave him a tug.

Hunk reluctantly ran after them. “Worst team-building exercise ever.” he grumbled.

\- - - - - - - - - - - -

As it turned out, they were not the only ones interested in the alien pod. A boy that Lance quickly recognized as ‘Keith’ beat them to the ship and caused a diversion that made sneaking past the guards even easier.

Lance griped about Keith always ‘trying to one-up him’, but Pidge was just relieved to find Shiro in one piece (well, two pieces if you count his missing arm). 

After making a speedy getaway, they all wound up at Keith’s cabin with an abducted and slightly confused Shiro. 

Thankfully, Shiro didn’t seem to recognize her, and she introduced both herself and Hunk. She also tried to subtly ask him if her family was still alive _(‘they have to be’_ , she told herself after Shiro’s vague answer. ‘ _They’re too smart to die._ ’

Eventually, the talk of aliens came up, and Hunk pulled out her personal effects. Pidge snatched them back in a frenzy. Hunk had mentioned that he had read through her diary, and she nearly flew into a panic. She wrote mostly in Altean - it was one of the few comforts of her home that she had left. If Hunk saw that, there was a good chance that one of them would recognize it as an alien dialect. 

“What were you doing in my stuff?!” Pidge disguised her probing as a harsh reprimand. 

Hunk shrugged. “I was looking for a candy bar.”

Pidge breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. It was just Hunk being Hunk. No one was suspicious of her secret. ‘ _No one is suspicious_ **_yet_ **’ said a nasty little voice in the back of her head. 

As the conversation carried on, Hunk brought up how the lines in her diary looked like fraunhofer lines, and Keith realized that the lines matched the landscaping around them. 

Soon, she and Hunk had whipped up a sort of Voltron Geiger counter and they were out the door and on the lookout for alien activity. 

The machine led them to a cave, and eventually to a big, blue lion surrounded by a forcefield. A big, blue lion that made Pidge’s heart ache with homesickness because she remembered happier times when there were five lions that roamed the galaxies, helping people and making peace. Her father had been one of the leading scientists who had worked on the enormous, living ships. 

And then Lance knocked on the force field.

That’s when the fun really started. Once they had all piled into the lion, it took off. Lance had mild control over the lion - it was clear where it was going. It was all Pidge could do to not vibrate with excitement. Finally, after thousands of years, _Pidge was finally going_ **_home_ **. 

The blue lion plunged deeper and deeper into space, and Pidge did her best to look as confused and scared as the others. 

A shape started to come into view, and with a joly, Pidge realized that it was her old home, the Castle of Lions. She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face, and Shiro shot her a funny look. Before anyone could question her about it, Hunk puked. 

“So sorry.” Hunk wheezed out before diving back down for a second round of barf.

“Honestly,” Pidge sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I’m just surprised that it took this long.”

Eventually, the lion touched down and they all tumbled out of the lion and into the courtyard of the castle. 

“Judging by the size of the lions,” Pidge snarked, “I expected the steps to be bigger.”

Turning to everyone else, Shiro had an unusually somber look on his face. “Keep your guard up, everyone.”

Everyone turned to look at Shiro, and Pidge tensed. “Is something wrong?”

“My crew was captured by aliens once.” He stated. “I’m not going to let it happen again.”

Pidge curled in on herself and avoided everyone’s eyes. 

As they made their way through the castle’s glowing, crystal-lined hallways, Pidge marveled at the pristine technology and how nothing had changed in the ten thousand years that it had been since she had seen it last. Waves of nostalgia swept over her, and she quickly swiped at the suspicious wetness in her eyes.

Following the glowing path that the crystals had made, they eventually reached a large room close to the center of the palace.

 _‘It’s the control room.’_ Pidge thought giddily. ‘ _Dad used to work in here sometimes.’_

Reaching her hand out to touch the dusty control pad, the room suddenly lit up and Pidge jerked her hand back. 

The lights illuminated two pods, each containing a person. 

Hunk looked horrified. “...Are they dead?”

The pod opened with a sizzle, and a woman tumbled out with a cry.

Unfortunately, the poor lady fell straight into Lance’s arms. 

Lance stumbled back a bit as the woman fell into him. “Hello.”

“Who are you? Where am I?”

Pidges eyes lit up. She recognized that voice - the pod lady was _Princess freaking Allura_! She wasn’t the only altean left alive! 

Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill over. 

_She wasn’t the last of her species._

“Who are you? Where is king Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?!”

Lance took a step back. “A giant blue lion brought us here! That’s all we know!” 

“How do you have the blue lion?” The princess harshly demanded. “What happened to it’s paladin? What are you doing here?”

Shiro stepped forward, his hands held out in a placating fashion. “We don’t know what you’re talking about. Why don’t you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”

Allura hardly spared him a glance as she moved toward the center of the room. “I am princess Allura of the planet Altea. I’ve got to find out where we are and how long we’ve been asleep.” The princess placed her hand on the control panel, and a second pod released another altean. 

Pidge pushed past Shiro and made her way over to the princess, who looked on warily. “We’re on the planet Arus, your highness.”

Allura looked at her in an appraising way after glancing at the newly-appeared screen. “It seems that you are right, young one. But how did you know?”

The other earthlings looked on, confused. 

Shiro was the first to get over his confusion “...Pidge, how did you know that? You’ve never been to space before.”

Pidge took a deep breath before letting herself shift into her natural form - a form that she hadn’t let herself take for nearly a decade. Her ears elongated and her hair whitened. The green, sickle-shaped marks that her father had always praised before the fall of Altea reappeared beneath her eyes. Her eyes returned to their natural orange-red colour.

Pidge heard Allura’s sharp intake of breath, and she could almost hear her team’s confusion. 

“You’re altean.” The princess breathed. “That’s impossible. The planet was destroyed - how did you survive?”

Pidge winced as she recalled the dreadful turn of events that led to her eventual escape. “I… I’d rather not tell the full story right now if that’s alright, your majesty.” 

Allura nodded and gathered the young altean into a comforting hug, and Pidge let out a strangled sort of wheeze before starting to cry. The princess rubbed soothing circles on Pidge’s back as she tried (and failed) to get her sobbing under control. 

Lance spoke up first. “Wait… Pidge is an alien?” He shot Pidge a suspicious glare. “Is she one of the ones who kidnapped Shiro? Was she in league with the ones going to attack earth?!”

Pidge shrank in on herself, and Allura’s hug immediately changed from comforting to protective. “Don’t you _dare_ compare this survivor to a mercenary of the Galran empire!” she snarled. Lance took a few steps back, obviously nervous. 

Hunk put his hands up in an ‘I surrender’ gesture. “Hey, Lance doesn’t mean anything by it. Pidge is our friend - we’re just all a little surprised.”

Allura looked down at Pidge and held her closer. “How long has it been since Altea’s destruction, young one?”

“Ten thousand years.” Pidge whispered, the sound barely audible. “It’s been ten thousand years since I’ve last seen another Altean.”

Allura closed her eyes for a moment to gather herself, and then smiled warmly at the soon-to-be green paladin. “And what’s your name?”

“My name is Kolle.” The name rolled off her tongue easily even though she hadn’t spoken it aloud in years. “But I mostly go by Pidge.”

“Well, _Kolle_ , you and your comrades must be hungry - let's go see if the kitchens are in any condition to be used, shall we?”

With that, the Altean princess put an arm across the younger girl’s shoulders and started to lead her out the door, the other members of the earth crew following close behind, obviously bewildered at the recent events.

But before questions came food. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just my take on what an Altean Pidge would look like.

**Author's Note:**

> Pidge's altean name is pronounced 'Koe - leh'


End file.
